Ilkka Paananen: Open and friendly community is what makes Finnish games industry special

View more

Finland's open and friendly community is what makes the country's games industry "really special", says Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen.

Opening the Games First Helsinki 2018 conference, Paananen said the idea of starting the event, now in its sixth year, was to create a place where people can help each other out and share things they’ve learned.

Welcoming community

He said the country’s games hub was still like a family despite its growth. What sets it apart from other country’s was that the Finnish games community was “very open and friendly”. More specifically, it’s “open to people, new types of ideas and new types of games”.

“Fundamentally I think this results in better games,” he said.

Neogames CEO Koopee Hiltunen, also opening the event, said last year Finland had more than 50 events, which has helped foster a culture of sharing and enabling open discussion and networking opportunities.